Friday morning

This morning's Crooks and Liars reminded me of Olbermann's nice interview with Jonathan Turley last night. Turley made the point that Habeas Corpus is the linch pin right--without it, you don't get to appeal for the other rights.

Olbermann: The right to bear arms, to believe your religion or to not believe any religion at all, to say what you want, these rights get people fired up, no matter what side of the debate they’re on. Is not habeas corpus essential to all of them? You don’t have that, it doesn’t matter what the second amendment says?

Turley: That’s right…. all those rights are meaningless [without habeas corpus] because it’s habeas corpus that allows you to get to a court who can hear your complaint. So without habeas corpus it’s just basically words that have no meaning, and this president has shown the dangers of the assertion of absolute power. He has asserted the right to take an American citizen, declare them unilaterally an enemy combatant and deny them all rights. The courts have said otherwise and now Congress will say otherwise

He also reminded us how dangerous this Administration has been and how casual they have been with our fundamental rights. I have argued to one of my Texas friends that far too many conservatives have treated our system as if it is self-correcting and so have really ignored it when Bush has rewritten basic constitutional rights. Turley points out another problem:

Turley: “The greatest irony of the Bush Administration is that his legacy will be to show the dangers of walking away from those rights that define us. We’re very much alone today. He can’t go to Canada without people protesting, Miss America can’t even go to Mexico without being booed. We’re viewed as a rogue nation and it is a dangerous world to live in when you’re alone.

*****

AL strikes gold again and challenges the very notion of a pardon in the Libby case:

Presidential pardons are not supposed to be used as an alternative form of appeal for well-connected defendants.

Yes. I remember similar wording coming from conservatives (and a few liberals like my self) when Clinton pardoned Marc Rich and that congressman from Illinois. But for that circle of right wingers in power (barely) now, the rules really only apply when it is someone else who violates the law or the rules.